The hospital that never comes

Rural communities seem to be put on the back burner when it comes to provincial funding projects. This is probably due to larger cities such as Calgary and Edmonton having higher populations and bigger players. And, for the most part, rural communities have been willing to accept that and even find ways of working around it.

But one of the things that governments cannot be cheap on is health care. Liberals always talk about the benefits of having public health care, such as making sure all classes of people get the best treatment possible.

However, when one looks at all the false promises made about Whitecourt getting a new hospital, socialized medicine starts to lose its glamour. Would private enterprise have gotten that hospital built quicker? Maybe not, but any promises made would have likely been better followed through.

The most recent fiasco involved the Alberta NDP government backing away from its plan to build a “template” for constructing rural hospitals. This would have, in theory, helped decrease construction costs and had hospitals built faster.

Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman explained that it was proving costly and challenging to create a single hospital template for rural communities. So small towns are not just carbon copies of each other? Wow, and here I thought government bigwigs never leave the big city.

Too bad the previous conservative government was just as bad at keeping their promises regarding a new hospital. It seems no matter who Whitecourt turns to, the answer is always “maybe” and then nothing.

While the Whitecourt Healthcare Centre isn’t falling apart, it was built over 50 years ago. The population has grown around five times its size since then. According to a letter from the Town of Whitecourt and Woodlands County to Alberta Health Services, the facility is currently suffering from a number of deficiencies, such as insufficient space for additional staff and storage.

The existing staff are probably doing their best with the resources, but residents shouldn’t have be rushed to Edmonton for an emergency procedure while the provincial government puts Whitecourt on a wait list yet again.

One positive development is that the Town of Whitecourt and Woodlands County are pushing for a meeting with Alberta Health Services over improving the Whitecourt Healthcare Centre. Perhaps something substantial will come out of this.